Malyon Workplace

Exploring some common Workplace Myths

The creative people at Threads are putting together a very interesting series of blogs entitled “10 Myths about Work” (they were up to Myth #8 last time I looked).

Here’s how they introduced the series:

“Between leaving full-time education and retirement we?ll spend about 90,000 hours in the workplace. Work is a hugely significant part of life, but one that we don?t talk about all that much, let alone hear much teaching on at church. This mini-series tackles the top 10 myths about work ? common things that we can all fall into believing when we lose God?s perspective on our work. Join the debate ? let?s break the silence.” [Read more…] about Exploring some common Workplace Myths

“Taking you soul to work” – Pride: Grasping Equality with God (Chapter 1)

Paul Stevens opening comments in his ‘converTaking your soul to worksation’ with co-author, Alvin Lung, will resonate with many observers of workplace behaviour:

“Pride makes you boast about being a self-made person.? When things go well, you think you’re the only one who did it. When things go bad, it’s someone else’s fault.? You make extravagant promises? But when thing spiral out of control, you shift the blame elsewhere.? You sincerely can’t believe that all these people failed you.? This happens at work all the time …’ (p.15)

Ouch!? Did any of those comments resonate with you?? They sure did for me – both in terms of what I have seen around me as well as my own responses at various times in my working life.? While pride is a trap for anyone, those experiencing apparent success within the corporate world need to be especially careful – success itself can be very seductive. [Read more…] about “Taking you soul to work” – Pride: Grasping Equality with God (Chapter 1)

“Taking Your Soul to Work” (Introduction)

Taking your soul to workThe opening words from Eugene Peterson’s foreword set the scene for this challenging but very helpful book:

“One of the most offensive and soul-damaging phrases in the Christian community is “full-time Christian work.’? Every time it is used it drives a wedge of misunderstanding between the way we pray and the way we work, between the way we worship and the way we make a living.? One of the achievements of the Protestant Reformation was the leveling of the ground between the clergy and laity.? Pastors and butchers had equal status before the cross, homemakers were on a par with evangelists.? But insidiously, that level ground has been eroded as religious professionals have claimed the high ground, asserted exclusive rights to ‘full-time Christian wiork,’ and relegated the laity to part-time work on weekends under their pastoral or priestly direction … This professionalization of religion is an assault on the integrity of the Christian community.” (p. viii) [Read more…] about “Taking Your Soul to Work” (Introduction)

None of God’s business?

GJH PIC March12 bThe following?article by Graham Hooper?appeared originally?in the May 2013 edition of Evangelicals Now?and is reposted here by permission.

Can you do a little mental arithmetic? Assuming you live to your early 60s, how many hours will you have spent at work? Now, do a similar exercise. Think about how many hours each week you spend on overtly ?Christian? activities, time at church in worship, at Bible study and in prayer groups, time at leadership meetings, teaching kids, or working with youth.

If you were to work 50 hours each week, then you would have spent about 100,000 hours at work by the end of your working life. If you were to spend (say) an average of ten hours a week in ?Christian ministry?, then, over that same 40-year period, you would have spent 20,000 hours. In summary: 100,000 hours at work; one fifth of that time in so called ?Christian work?.

[Read more…] about None of God’s business?

Interview with Graham Hooper – author of ‘Undivided’

GJH PIC March12 bGraham Hooper is a part of the Transforming Work team and we are very excited that he has joined us.? In April 2013, Graham’s book, Undivided, was published by IVP.?

Graham, before we start discussing how you came to write ?Undivided?, ?can you tell us a little but about your own working life?? I gather you have seen quite a bit of the world!

Yes ?my job has taken me around quite a bit! I grew up in UK, ?where I graduated as a civil engineer. I then went out to Tanzania for 2 years to work for the Game Department, in the Selous Game Reserve in the south. I went on to work on a port development project in Mauritius for six years before taking a 2-year ? time out? to study theology at Trinity College, Bristol. We then moved out to work in Papua new Guinea. Through my role as a senior executive with a global infrastructure company, ?we have also lived for extended periods in Australia and have spent the past five years based in Dubai. My wife and I are enjoying being back in Australia, nearer our children and grandchildren.

Graham, can you tell us briefly how you came to faith in Christ?

It was while I was in East Africa. When I packed my gear to go out there I threw in a hard copy New Testament which I had received as a prize at school, but which had remained unopened. I thought it would be useful for pressing flat family photos.? I lived in a tent for a year and had a lot of time in the evenings to read and I eventually got round to picking up the New Testament. I started to read (perversely) at the end, in the book of Revelation, The words in the first chapter: ?I am the Alpha and the Omega , says the Lord God,, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty? had a profound effect on me. There was a God who began it all, who would end it all and who kept it all going. I realised I had finally found the framework for life. At around the same time, I received a long letter from a hippy friend from University telling me that he had been ‘converted’ to Christ. He had no Christian background. He explained the gospel to me in his letter and ended by saying that he had come to believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and, in that belief , ?everything fitted into place?? ?It was over a period of several months following that I came to understand that I was fundamentally sinful and that Jesus Christ had died for me but that experience in my tent in the bush was the turning point in my life.

So after some 30 plus years as a Christian, what was the stimulus for writing ?Undivided??? Why did you decide that this book needed to be written?9781844746248[1]

I have spent most of my life working in ?the secular world? seeking to live out my faith.. A few years ago I became increasingly concerned at the gap I experienced between what went on at church and life out in the world. There seemed to be a lot of unreality, of real issues being ignored or swept under the carpet. As??I thought and prayed about that I started to reflect on all the other gaps in our experience:

  • the gap between the world as we would like it to be and how it is
  • the gap between who I wanted to be and my actual experience
  • the gap between how we like people to perceive us and how we really are
  • the gap between the Christianity professed in churches and the Christianity practised by many churchgoers
  • the gaps between the religious and the routine, the sacred and the secular, and
  • underlying it all, the gaps in our understanding and knowledge of God.

This drove me to back to the Scriptures where I realised that God?s people have always struggled with these things, albeit in a different historical context. I wanted to earth what I learned from the Scriptures with what I experienced in my own life and what I learned from others.

?I have written this from the heart over a period of about 3 years and that made writing relatively easy. It was a labour of love. ?I just sought to relate the Bible to my life and experience. IVP (InterVarsity Press) in UK ?liked the concept and the content and decided they wanted to publish it.

Who do you have in mind as the primary audience for this book?

Anyone who is struggling to bridge these gaps and live an honest, integrated life as a Christian. I suppose I have tried to write a book I would like to have read in my twenties or thirties but I hope here is something there for all ages

If you had to summarise the single most important message of ?Undivided?, what would it be????

God is at work to close all these gaps and make us whole. This is good news in a divided and disintegrating world. From our side, God sees the same person at work on Mondays as he sees in Church on Sunday. We need to be honest with God and with ourselves and not divide our life into compartments, each with its own behaviours, but rather bring our whole life, our work, our relationships and our plans ?under the control of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Being an ?undivided? Christian seems to me something for which we have both an individual and corporate responsibility.? What advice would you give us as individuals and as members of church communities as to how we can help one another pursue the goal of an undivided life?

We spend the vast majority of our waking hours at work rather than at church. It?s in our daily work that our faith is tested as we grapple with difficult relationships,, ethical problems, financial and health worries. ?I suspect there are many Christians who lock these problems up and come to church on Sundays portraying an image that ?everything is fine? when it really is not. We need to find someone, ?or a small group, to talk through and pray through these issues that face us in living as a Christian at home and at work. It?s a lonely road when you feel that your church does not support you in this or when there is no one you can share with and pray with.? If God?s work is to make us whole people, (which it is) then the role of the church as Christ?s Body on earth must be to do the same. So churches need to encourage people to relate their faith to their daily task, at work and at home.

August Malyon Newsletter

Some of Australia?s leading thinkers about Faith in the Workplace have contributed to our first newsletter. Kara Martin, John Beckett and Dave Benson have provided great insights into the faith and work conversation and their articles are worth taking a few moments out of your day to read.

We have also included some of the participants experiences of our ?Vocational Hubs?, and their articles describe how they have experienced the workplace conversation in a ?vocational hub? and the ways our faith can change this conversation.

The download is free.

Download Now!

If you would like to support Malyon Workplace here is how to do it:

Direct deposit it to the Malyon Cheque account, which has the following details:

BSB: 704-913

ACC No.: 400039608

All donations should reference it as ?Malyon Workplace Gift? and if then email to russell.matthews@malyon.edu.au providing a copy of the transfer receipt and then we will respond by providing a Malyon Workplace thankyou/acknowledgement/receipt.

 

Interview – Gary Gehiere

Gary had failed.

In that way, he is not much different than me or you.

But instead of packing it in ? as we so often do ? he listened to God’s call on his life to push through that failure.

Gary does accounting and consulting for a large client base of loyal customers. Although his journey is unconventional, his faith in God through the ups and downs is inspiring.

In this interview he talks about how he started his own firm, how he makes faith-based decisions, and how he uses prayer to minister to others through his business.

?What is your business?

I work in the field of accounting, tax and business consulting.

How did you get started?

I started out as an articling student, employed full time with a national firm of chartered accountants. I was taking correspondence courses from Queens, doing summer sessions, and writing three days of exams each year. The whole process lasted for 5 years.

Nonetheless, not all who go through this process end up succeeding.

I was one of the ones who failed.

And when you fail for the first time in your life, after investing the best years of your life, it is a moment of crisis. I regrouped, and without a designation, carried on as a staff auditor for eight more years.

The work offered little personal satisfaction.

And although I was an active believer in Jesus, there was a separation between my faith and the tough issues of life. I “toughed it out” until one day, I reached the end. Something had to give.

I?m happy just knowing the next step, not the whole picture

I prayed. The answer came quickly.

The word from the Lord for me came in a short phrase from the story of Moses being called to lead Israel and feeling unprepared and unqualified. The Lord said “what is that in thine hand?”

In that moment I realized the value of who I was and what I had been given.

I realized that although none of my efforts would be valued on a CV, when given to God, they would be invaluable. In that moment, I accepted my call to help people using my training in accounting.

I gave notice, left the firm, and within days had my own clients!

So today, 45 years later, I continue. The orders still stand. I have a large client base, including several who have been with me from the beginning.

If you want, can you explain a bit about your faith journey?

Studies show that when surveyed, the majority of confessing Christians became believers between the ages of 4 and 14.

That was true for me, influenced by a neighbourhood Bible Club, and a local church that presented the importance of a personal salvation experience.

I have clear memories of key events in this period of my faith journey. Coming to Jesus in repentance, receiving salvation and being born again ? the essential foundational event on which the rest of life would be lived.

How do you make faith-based decisions?

Living life for me needs constant, clear direction, but I’m happy just knowing the next step, not the whole picture. If I had to identify just one spiritual privilege that I rank first, it is being able to receive clear direction for the next step.

Yes, the act of praying for direction is part of the process. So is reading and assimilating the truths from scripture.

But more importantly, the attitude of expectation, the posture of faith, believing, waiting, praying some more, and never giving up ? because God will speak, and clearly.

This is essential and a reality for which I am grateful.

Do you think of your business as a ministry?

I see my business more as a calling than a ministry. I try to meet the needs that present themselves almost daily. Where spiritual tools are more appropriate, I reach into my toolbox and usually choose prayer.

Meeting real people with real needs is a special opportunity for all of us, but in business, you have more control over your time and agenda.

A word of caution?? make sure you do not violate professional ethics or unduly use your influence or authority. Praying with a client may be some of the best counsel we can offer, but always get permission before doing this.

What are some ways in which you run your business differently than someone who is not a believer?

Being ethical, honest, reliable, and respectful. These are some of the ways.

I practice “value billing”, but also practice “pro bono” when I determine that the client needs help, but cannot a?ord the fee.

Should we grow businesses or keep them small? Do you think that faith plays a role in this at all, or is this question irrelevant?

With God’s leading, and without pride, live up to your privileges and opportunities. Riches can be a snare, but offer real opportunities to help others.

Providing employment to others is helping in a very real way.

Do you struggle with the ethics of selling and marketing? What has helped you with this?

If you have the ability to genuinely meet a need, and you meet a prospect who has the need that you can meet, the prospect will be excited to have found you.

Marketing is the attempt to make the connection. Honesty and integrity are essential for a successful outcome.

Is there a time when you really had to rely on God for something, when you have had to make a “leap of faith”?

Usually, the leap was made first and then I had to rely on God for recovery.

More than once, and this is especially gratifying, I took a leap, things went so so, and in the end, an unintended consequence turned out to be the real blessing.

How do you think about work/life balance?

First of all, work is your friend, not your enemy.

It is a privilege to work. Work brings a wonderful sense of satisfaction. If it isn’t that way for you, pray and ask God to change you, what you do, or who you work for.

Second, since that day I recounted earlier, I have always integrated my work with family and with life. This works for me. Enjoy the journey.

What habit have you developed over the years that you think others would benefit from having?

Don’t try to do everything yourself.

Do what you do best and hire the rest. Appreciate your staff and your clients. Enjoy the journey.

Expect God to show you the next step and He will.

This article first appeared in?marketplacedisciples.com

Marketplace disciples is to?encourage Christians who are faithfully serving the Lord in the marketplace and to further the conversation around how faith and business can come together to serve God?s kingdom.

The conversation needed for work

The Conversation

And everyday we go to work,
Creating conversations,
Seeking opportunity,
In the friend,
Who shares,
The gift,
Given,
When the other is heard.

I wrote this poem when reflecting on the key themes I have discovered about work. I was reminded of the way that conversations shape our experience of work and the importance of friendship in creating meaning from what we do. There is a gift that can be given to everyone simply by allowing the other person to be heard.

As David Whyte reflects in one of his poems we make a mistake when we try to navigate the workplace by ourselves. He writes, “Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone.” In the workplace it?s vital that a safe place is created for everyone. The loneliness that we all experience at times can be balanced by the sanctuary created by friendship.

A safe place enables a safe conversation where the person feels that they are heard. This conversation isn?t required to produce answers and it isn?t required to fix anything. As Rachel Remen says in My Grandfather?s Blessings, ?presence is a much more powerful catalyst for change than analysis?.

Sign up to our newsletter

Subscribe today to receive a free ebook

* indicates required




Jannice Moore – Interview

Jannice is the owner of a small consulting company that provides coaching to governing boards, specializing in teaching a servant-leadership style of governance. This gives her and her 11 employees a very natural way to present Jesus to her clients.

What is your business?

I am the owner of a small company that coaches governing boards.

How did you get started?

When I first began the business nearly 25 years ago, it was a big leap to go from a regular paycheck to the unknown. But there was such clear guidance from God that is was the right thing to do.

I worked for many years in health care in administrative and consulting capacities, most recently with a provincial health care association, where I directed the development of education for boards and CEOs.

When the government decided to regionalize health boards in 1994, our association staff was drastically reduced, and my entire department disappeared.

I had been toying with the idea of starting my own business for several years, but was enjoying my work, and just didn’t take that step. This situation now left me with an opportunity.

I had been praying about what I should do for about 6 months, and kept getting the answer, “wait.”

So I waited.

Then one day I received a phone call from someone who knew I was doing work in the governance area as part of my job. She was sitting on a board that had some problems, and basically wanted to pick my brain. So we talked for an hour or so.

Then I heard coming out of my mouth, totally unplanned by me, “well, I suppose I could come and talk to your board some weekend if they want to know more.” The conversation ended and I basically forgot about it.

I build the concept of servant-leadership into every presentation

About 2 weeks later, she called me back, and said her board wanted me to visit them, so we set a date.

Shortly after, I received a call from someone I didn’t know at all. She was the CEO for a neighbouring board, and had heard that I was coming to do a session for them. She wanted to know if I could do the same for her board.

So, within a short time, I had two clients.

As it turned out, the dates booked were the very next week after my job disappeared. I didn’t know if or when that date might be when booking the two boards.

To me, that was very clear direction that God wanted me to start this consulting company, so I took the leap.

Within 3 months I was completely booked!

Since then, the company has grown from me, myself, and I, to 8 additional consulting team members across North America, and a support staff of 3.

If you want, can you explain a bit about your faith journey?

I was blessed to be brought up in a Christian home and came to faith at age 6. Since I was 13, I have been involved in the music ministry of my local church.

Starting at that age, I have played either piano or organ at church wherever I have been. At this point, I am one of a team of 4 that rotates the job. For many years I also conducted a small chorus at church, producing several children’s musicals along the way.

I was involved with the Cursillo Movement in the Anglican Church, a weekend intensive experience that brings people ? often nominally Christian ? face to face with the claims of Christ, and then sets them on a path of discipleship with supports along the way.

I was the Lay Director of our local movement (then in Edmonton), and worked as part of the team on many weekends.

Do you think of your business as a ministry?

Yes, I do consider my business a ministry.

In a broad sense, helping boards to more effectively direct their organizations to achieve their missions contributes to making the world a better place.

The model of governance in which my business specializes is Policy Governance ?. One of its fundamental principles is that the board is not there for itself, but for its owners, those on whose behalf it governs, and that the board’s relationship with those owners should be one of servant-leadership.

So I build the concept of servant-leadership into every presentation, and use it as an opportunity to note that the concept was one taught by Jesus Christ.

What are some ways in which you run your business differently than someone who is not a believer?
Over the last number of years we have added several consultants who specifically focus on working with churches and mission agencies, and I do some of that as well.

These consultants work at a lower fee with smaller churches and missions, which results in less overall income to the company. This is part of my personal ministry, as well as theirs, giving back to organizations that have a mission related to eternal values.

We have added several consultants who specifically focus on working with churches and mission agencies

As well, a majority of our team members are committed Christians, although I have not made that a criterion for being part of the team.

However, all members must be committed to integrity in all of our dealings.

We do our best to treat all clients with respect, both as people, and showing respect for their ideas and the work they have done, even if we are coaching them to improve it.

I am not sure that this is unique to Christians, but it is certainly necessary for a Christian business.

Should we grow businesses or keep them small? Do you think that faith plays a role in this at all, or is this question irrelevant?
I don’t think this question is directly related to faith.

Businesses themselves are not “Christian” or “non-Christian”. The people in them are.

If a Christian business owner is paying attention to God’s direction for the business, that is the important part. For some, this may mean growing; for others it may mean remaining smaller.

Do you struggle with the ethics of selling and marketing? What has helped you with this?

I would not call this a struggle exactly.

I was raised not to “toot my own horn”, so it has taken some work on my part to be comfortable “putting myself out there” in terms of marketing materials, videos, etc.

However, if I really believe that the work our company does is helpful to organizations in making the world a better place and in furthering the Kingdom, then I would be doing them a disservice if I did not let them know about how we can help and they end up either not getting help, or engaging someone who cannot give them the experience and knowledge that our team has.

How do you think about work/life balance?
This is an ongoing struggle for me. (See my list of books below, many of which are about life balance)

A challenge of being a business owner is that it is very easy to work 24/7.

I learned many years ago that it is critical to take “free time” for rejuvenation, worship, spiritual retreat, and time with family. Now I book “free days” first in my calendar, and nothing is allowed to intrude on that time.

Everything else has to be scheduled around them, which forces more focus on those days that I am working.

This article first appeared in?marketplacedisciples.com

Marketplace disciples is to?encourage Christians who are faithfully serving the Lord in the marketplace and to further the conversation around how faith and business can come together to serve God’s kingdom.

Redeeming Work: What does it mean? – Graham Hooper

Originally posted at Life@Work here.

Sometimes people writing or speaking about ?Faith and Work? use the term ?Redeeming work?. It?s not a term that appears in the Bible, and is often not well explained. I, for one, am left asking ?what does that really mean in my work situation?

In the Bible, to ?redeem? means to rescue or deliver? by payment of a price. Jesus Christ has paid the price to redeem us from our natural state of captivity to sin and its consequences in order to belong to him and to live for him ?whose service is perfect freedom?. What then does it mean in practical terms to say that our work is part of that redemption? [Read more…] about Redeeming Work: What does it mean? – Graham Hooper